My name is Melody Arnold, and I'm here to
talk to you about the Macon County Community Environmental Council and the friends of Lincoln
Trail Homestead State Park. The Macon County Community Environmental Council is a group
that's been around for quite some time. They organized in 2000, I believe, they were involved
with promoting recycling in our community, and a lot of other projects. Now, they sponsor a
river cleanup in the spring at Rock Springs Nature Center and one in the fall at Linc
oln Park here
in Decatur. They also have quarterly forums at the Decatur Public Library, which feature a variety of
different topics that relate to the environment, and to conservation, to energy so those would be
good for continuing education. A group within the Community Environmental Council, a committee
of that group, is the friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park. And this group was formed
to try to bring that park up a little better. It had gotten into pretty bad shape. The stat
e
didn't have a lot of funding for it, and the group formed to try to enhance the environment of
the park and also to bring the information about the history of that park to the public. So, the
friends have a lot of volunteer opportunities. [Music] Also at Lincoln Trail Homestead
State Park we have a public program. So, if you're interested in any of that we would
be glad to put you on our email list so we can notify you when our work days and our programs
are coming up. Hello everyone! My
name is Sonya, and I've been a Master Naturalist since 2014.
Of course, we're all busy with our families, and I'm still working, and I find that citizen
science projects works perfect for me. You can do feeder watch, that's all online, and just
by watching your bird feeders. I participate in COCORAHS- Community Collaborated Rain
Hail and Snow. I measure rain every day, and whenever there's snow you measure it
with a special ruler and record it every day. Whatever your fancy is there is a c
itizen science
project for it, and they are very important to helping to care for our environment. Hello!
My name is Jenny Garver, and I'm the volunteer coordinator for the Macon County Conservation
District Rock Springs Nature Center, and today I'm going to be talking to you about volunteer
opportunities here at Rock Springs. [Music] Volunteer opportunities we have here at the
Macon County Conservation District include both indoor and outdoor opportunities. We have
about 30 different oppo
rtunities available. Hi! My name is Cassandra Meyen, and I am a
Master Naturalist here with Glaciers Edge Master Naturalists. I am mainly based in DeWitt County
and would welcome any questions or the ability to help you find a place to volunteer. There are two
main state parks- Clinton Lake and Weldon Springs, and there is a variety here. Fishing derby
volunteers, we have Earth Day workshops, there are several park cleanup days. At Weldon
Springs, they have both a schoolhouse and a nature c
enter that need volunteers, and they also put on
several events like Halloween and Christmas that are nature themed throughout the year. Lots of
birding and nature hike leaders are also needed. At Vespasian Warner Public Library in Clinton,
they have really embraced the Master Naturalist program, and have a nature wall where everyone
is welcome to donate 4x6 photos from local parks around the area. There is a pollinator Garden
that is being constructed in collaboration with 4-H that you are
welcome to be involved with, and
we have a Nature Nook that is just starting. It's going to be a table once a month where you will
have adult information and a children's activity. [Music] There are several nature preserves, and
other various parks around the area, such as Mettler Woods, where you're welcome to
help clear trails and remove invasive species, as well as join other Master Naturalists from
around the state for nature walks. If you're looking for getting involved out in the com
munity
through Facebook there are four main local groups. Hi! My name is Susan Shaw. I've been Master Naturalist since 2015.
I presently chair the Glaciers Edge Master Naturalist board. So, I'm going to talk to you a
little bit about the board and our efforts to seat some new members, our second Saturday regular
birding group I'm going to talk to you about, as well as our little free libraries that
we have in two of the parks in our area. I mentioned I would talk and discuss a little
bit a
bout the Master Naturalist board which I happen to be the chair of. We meet four times
a year. There are five members on the board and then our advisors. The board is the entity
that determines all of our programming for the year. What we're going to do for the Carolyn
Mason day, how we're going to run our classes, and any other opportunities that we'd like to,
you know, offer our group. We would really like to see some new board members, and if that's
something that you can see yourself se
rving in and would be at all interested, please give
either me a shout-out by email or call the office, and because we would really like to have some new
blood on that and some new ideas on our board. Another opportunity, and this is a great way
to pick up education hours, something that is a cooperative effort between the Glacier's Edge and
Decatur Audubon, and that is our second Saturday regular birding group. We meet the second Saturday
of every month. In the warm months, we meet at 7 A.
M. The colder months we meet at 8 A.M, and we go
out and we bird for an hour. This way you have the rest of your weekend. You don't have to block out
a large amount of time to still be able to pick up about 12 education hours a year. We go to various
spots in our area Macon, DeWitt, Piatt counties. You don't need to be an experienced birder at
all. You don't even need binoculars. Many of us have extra binoculars that we're willing to
share. Over the years, and we've been up and running sinc
e 2019, we've really developed some
really good friendships. Also in the process, and the last thing I wanted to talk a little bit
about was our little free nature libraries. And this is a Glaciers Edge project. Our first one
went up about two years ago out at Allerton Park, and we just in this last year put a little
free nature library out at Rock Springs. And, if you would be at all interested in helping to
locate books, nature-themed books at garage sales and resale shops, or also just b
e on board to help
keep the library stocked and make sure, you know that, has plenty of books. You can contact me. I'm
basically the one that kind of runs that. Hi! I am Connie Requarth, and I am a Master Naturalist and
also the president of the Decatur Audubon Society. We think of Audubon as a birding group,
but really we're a conservation group. We have volunteer opportunities
in several areas. One is events Birding- we participate with the SSR group- the
second Saturday regulars. We do
all the bird counts: the Great Backyard Bird Count, Spring Bird
Count, a Christmas Bird Count. We need volunteers for all of those as well as the Big Sit, The Let's
Go Birding Together, and our new Climate Watch program. Environmentally, we do restoration
wor, which is mainly removing invasives like garlic mustard and honeysuckle. We sponsor
the Plants for Bird program that encourages native plantings- both residential and public.
And, we're working on the Audubon Mile project with the park
district where we're going to try
to put pollinator patches along the new section of the bike trail. Educational opportunities
include our general meetings every month which are open to the public. We have speakers and a
bird study, and they count as continuing ed hours. foreign [Music]
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